Petrified Wood
by Phantom77
Summary: Short fic. When Mikey's perpetual curiosity starts disagreeing with April, Donnie has to explain.


AN: Yay! My first fan fiction is up! :) I thougt I'd try something simple to get me started. Please R&R.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Petrified Wood

April stepped hesitantly out of the tunnel that connected her basement to the pumping station, and tapped her knuckles on the brick wall next to it. She ways felt comfortable around the four teenage mutant ninja turtles that had become her closest friends, but it still felt odd to come into their new lair without knocking at least.

"Hey April!" Called the techno savvy turtle.

"Hey Don. Whattcha working on?" April asked making her way to the lab.

"Nothing special. Just taking apart the toaster… again."

Inside the brightly lit lab a purple masked turtle was bent over the open heating coils and inner workings of said appliance. The stainless steal covering was off to the side as well as other pieces of the toaster.

"Ha! I'm not sure if it'll survive another examination, Donnie." April chuckled.

"Very funny." Don grinned, looking up for the first time since she came in, "What's that?"

"Oh this." April remembered. She put the paper sack on the table.

"I found the computer parts you were looking for." She continued.

"Sweet! Thanks." Don replied looking through the bag.

"Say," April asked, "where is everyone?"

"Raph is topside, with Casey I guess. " Don listed off, not looking up, "Leo and Master Splinter are meditating in the dojo, and Mikey," – "_Wahoo!! _Take _**that**_ you evil game zombies" Mikey shouted – "is, well… being Mikey."

April couldn't help but smile as she watched the hyperactive youngest turtle pound away on the controller.

"Why… What do we have here?" Don asked

"Oh, yeah. It's just a little something I found, and I thought that you'd like it." April answered.

"Cool." Don pondered examining it closely.

"What. What is it??" Mikey asked interest peaked.

"Oh nothing really." April shrugged. Big mistake, this instantly got Mikey's full attention. He dropped the game controller instantly and somersaulted into the lab.

"What. What. What. What." Mikey repeated over and over, jumping around.

Don gave April a friendly glare, as if to say, 'you should've known', but said, "Its petrified wood."

Mikey stopped on a dime and asked, "Wood?"

"Take a look." Don offered handing him the piece.

It was a rectangular jagged chunk that must've been a piece of the outer layer, since one side looked like it was once a part of the bark. Could not have been bigger that a baseball, and it was striped and blotched with many browns, grays, and orangey colors. Mikey could see the growth lines and cracks in it, but what confused him was that it was hard, really hard. It didn't feel like a wood at all. It felt like a rock. So to test it, Mikey threw it up in the air and caught it a few times.

"Careful Mikey." April warned, "That is at least one hundred years old."

"Wow, really?" Mikey asked….

"No way! I'm not the brainy turtle here but I know that can't be right." Mikey objected.

"Mikey. That _is_ petrified wood." April replied.

"Can't be. Wood _rots_, so there's no way that this can be that old." Mikey stubbornly continued.

Mikey knew that he wasn't the best at remembering stuff like this, but he distinctly recalled the time when he'd hidden Leo's favorite wooden practice sword in the wrong sewer pipe for one month too many. He still had a few scars left from the beating Leo had given him when he finally found what was left of it.

"Wood rots, but minerals don't." Don piped up.

"Wha…?" Mikey asked, "Sorry bro but you lost me."

"That's why it is called _petrified_ wood. Let me explain." Don began, "You see when a piece of wood gets buried in the right soil and is under the right conditions oxygen and other decomposing bacteria can't get to it. So instead of decaying quickly the wood absorbs the minerals around it. Needless to say, nothing lasts forever, and the original wood does dissolve into the soil. It's like putting a cracker on your tongue and letting it sit there. Eventually you're left with a pile of mush. It's the same concept. However where the wood disappears the minerals remain, creating a exact replica of the original piece of wood."

"Sooo… It's really a rock?" Mikey hesitantly asked

"Correct." Don answered.

"And it's really one hundred years old?"

"The process is slow so, yes. It is at least one hundred years old."

"Huh…"

Mikey stared at the petrified wood in his hand for a moment, but then…

"_Brains.Brai_..**Crunch**…. _Da.__Da__.__Duuuuu_…Game Over."

"Oh Noooooooooooooo!!" Mikey wailed, "My Game!"

He tossed the petrified wood at Don, who caught it easily with ninja finesse, and raced backed to the failing game. He was instantly enthralled with zombie bashing, and seemed to forget all about the conversation.

"I give you, the attention span of Mikey." Don chuckled watching the orange masked turtle.

"Well I'd give him some credit." April smiled, "He did pay attention to the whole thing."

"True, but with Mikey you can never really tell…" Don wondered, "Oh! April, I want to show you some upgrade ideas I have for the battle shell."

"Sure. Lead the way." April agreed. Their voices faded as the two brainiacs walked farther away.

In the living room, with both eyes glue to the TV, Mikey continued to work his way through level nine.

"_Next time_," He thought, "_I'll bury the practice sword_."


End file.
